Your application information is private.

Who controls your information

Sift Assist is an independent application-preparation service. The service operator is the controller for the personal information used to run your account and provide the service. For privacy questions or a rights request, email civilservicehelper@outlook.com.

Sift Assist is not part of, endorsed by or connected with the UK Civil Service, the UK Government, a government department or a recruitment platform.

Information we collect

We collect only what is needed for the feature you choose to use:

• Account and security information: your email address, authentication records and session/security information.
• Profile and experience: details you choose to add, such as employment history, volunteering, caring, education and other experience.
• Application material: pasted adverts, confirmed requirements, evidence, drafts, interview practice answers, personal statements and CV information.
• Free checker submissions: the answer, behaviour, grade and feedback needed to provide and save a private check.
• Service and payment records: credit balance, generation/usage records, purchase identifiers, amount, currency and payment status. Stripe receives your payment details; Sift Assist does not store your card number or security code.
• Technical information: limited security, error and availability information needed to protect and operate the service.

Please do not paste classified, security-sensitive, commercially restricted or unnecessary third-party information. If an example contains someone else's personal information, remove it or obtain their permission first.

Why we use it

• Provide the service and save your work (necessary to perform our contract with you).
• Take and reconcile payments, credits and refunds(necessary for the contract and, where applicable, legal and accounting obligations).
• Protect accounts, prevent abuse and fix faults (our legitimate interest in keeping the service safe and reliable).
• Respond to support and privacy requests (necessary to provide the service and comply with our legal obligations).

We do not sell your information, use it for advertising profiles or use your application content to train AI models. We do not currently send marketing emails. If that changes, we will explain the lawful basis and give you a choice where required.

AI processing

When you request analysis, questions or a draft, we send the minimum relevant content to our configured AI provider through the OpenAI API. Provider-side response storage is disabled for these operations where the provider supports that setting. Operational usage records do not contain your advert, profile, answer or generated text.

AI output is guidance, not an official Civil Service assessment or an automated decision about your eligibility, employment or access to a public service. The free behaviour checker provides an estimate and its result can differ from a human sift panel. You must check every suggested answer before using it.

Who helps us process information

We use specialist suppliers to operate the service. Depending on the feature, they include Supabase for authentication and database hosting, Netlify for application hosting, OpenAI for requested AI processing, Stripe for hosted payments and an email provider for account messages. Each receives only the information needed for its role and is subject to its own security and privacy commitments.

These suppliers may process information outside the UK. Where a restricted transfer applies, we use an appropriate legal transfer mechanism and safeguards, such as an adequacy decision or approved contractual protections. Supplier locations and safeguards may change; this notice will be updated when that materially changes how your data is handled.

How we protect it

Account data is held in private database records protected by server-side authorisation and row-level security. Data in transit is encrypted using TLS. Payment card details stay within Stripe's hosted payment flow. We limit staff/administrator access, keep secrets out of the browser and avoid putting application text in logs.

No online service can promise absolute security. If we discover a personal-data incident, we will contain it, assess the risk and notify affected people and the regulator where the law requires it.

How long we keep it

• Your profile, applications, drafts and saved checks stay available while your account is open, unless you delete them sooner.
• Deleting an application removes its associated application and unfinished-answer records. Deleting your account removes account data and associated user records, subject to information we must retain for legal, fraud-prevention, security or accounting reasons.
• Payment and credit-ledger records are retained only for as long as needed for reconciliation, disputes, fraud prevention and legal or accounting requirements.
• Content-free usage and security records are retained only as long as needed to enforce limits, investigate abuse and keep the service safe.

We review these periods as the service develops. Backups and supplier deletion schedules may mean that a securely deleted record disappears from all copies at different times; it is not returned to the service or used for new work while that process completes.

Your choices and rights

Subject to legal limits, you can ask us for access to your information, correction of inaccurate information, deletion, restriction or objection to certain processing, and a copy in a portable format where the right applies. You can delete applications and your account from the service where those controls are available.

When signed in, open Account and choose Download my data for a private machine-readable copy of the information held in the application. Contact us if you need information held outside that download or cannot use the account control.

Email civilservicehelper@outlook.com with the account email, what you need and any relevant record or page. We may need to verify your identity. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.

Cookies

We use essential authentication and security cookies. We do not currently use advertising cookies, third-party analytics or session replay. See our cookie information for details.

Changes to this notice

We may update this notice when the service, suppliers or law changes. The date at the top will change, and material changes will be brought to your attention before they apply where required.